Making monkeys of politicians

hate to let the cat out of the bag, but the camel's nose is under the tent.

Pretty soon the rats will start deserting the sinking ship.

The lab rats, I mean. In a little-noticed move, both houses of the Legislature recently passed a measure that will save the lives of millions of rodents -- if its supporters are to be believed.

The bill, which awaits the governor's signature, would require that industry use alternatives to animal testing when possible. In February, when the bill passed the Assembly by a unanimous vote, the Humane Society Legislative Fund put out a press release that said, "This important animal protection bill could save millions of animal lives."

When I called the Humane Society for comment, spokeswoman Sara Amundsen told me, "The reason we targeted New Jersey is that you have one of the highest rates of chemical manufacturing in the country."

We also have one of the highest rates of animal-rights nuts in the country. And of course we have the highest property taxes in the country. So if I were an executive with a company that did any product testing involving animals, I'd take this as yet another message from Trenton to take my business elsewhere.

But would the bill actually save millions of animal lives? Not likely, said Jayne Mackta of the New Jersey Association of Biological Researchers. That would mean shutting down all animal-based research in the state, including medical research. And the bill exempts medical research, she noted.

As for the chemical industry in New Jersey, those researchers for the most part already follow the federal guidelines listed in the bill, said Mackta. The bill is as toothless as a hen, in other words. So what was the point of passing it?

"It's feel-good legislation," said Mackta. "The feeling was, 'We'll give this one to the crazies. They'll just go away.'"

But they're not going anywhere. New Jersey rivals California -- the only other state to pass a bill similar to this one -- for the title of capital of animal-rights activism in America. The West Coast has People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, but the Garden State has a group that's every bit as nutty, Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty. SHAC, as it's known, targets the Huntingdon Life Sciences company in the United States and in England. Last year, six SHAC members were convicted in federal court in Trenton of conspiring to harass and stalk employees of the Huntingdon facility in Somerset County. SHAC members insist that all animal research should be halted, and they're willing to use intimidation to make that a reality.

"What's happening here in New Jersey is that people don't want to stay here and have their children threatened," said Mackta. "They don't want to have to hide where they go to work."

Besides the SHAC crowd, New Jersey is home to Peter Singer, the Princeton University animal liberation philosopher who notoriously stretched his theory far enough to include justification for human infanticide. Then there's Gary Francione, a law professor at Rutgers Newark who has pushed the limits of animal-rights law to the edge of lunacy.

The effect of all this, says Mackta, is to make chemical and pharmaceutical companies leery of locating in the Garden State.

"We're a bellwether state," she said. "This bill is part of a long-term, broad strategy of passing incremental legislation to undermine the confidence and support in the biosciences."

Legislators seem to have no idea they're being used as guinea pigs. Some of the same legislators who backed this bill were also behind that initiative on the ballot last month to borrow $450 million for stem cell research, which is heavily dependent on the same sort of testing the animal-rights crowd wants to outlaw. That initiative was rejected by the voters. But if it had passed, the state would have ended up spending millions to attract the very same type of researchers the animal activists want to chase out of the state.

Those activists have already made us a national laughingstock, thanks to their efforts to protect the bears that roam our suburbs. And then of course we have "Congo's Law," the bill now being fast-tracked through the Legislature to save the life of a dog that nearly mauled a landscaper to death in Princeton. Having ended capital punishment sentences for homicidal humans, New Jersey is now moving toward ending the death penalty for homicidal animals as well.

The ultimate goal of the animal-rights crowd is to drive all industries engaged in animal research out of New Jersey, says Mackta. But I'll bet the taxes will drive them out first.